Pierre-Yves Quenette

• PhD
• Group Leader at Office Français de la Biodiversité

Range expansion is a common feature of invasive, reintroduced, and recovering populations. This process is driven by population growth and dispersal, and intrinsic species characteristics and dispersal mechanisms yield contrasting population structures in space. The spatial distribution of sex and age classes is key to understanding and forecasting...

La population d’Ours brun présente dans les Pyrénées fait l’objet d’un suivi annuel transfrontalier impliquant les services andorrans, espagnols et français. En France, l’OFB, par le biais du réseau Ours Brun (ROB), est chargé de cette mission. En 2024, les 3 593 indices indirects d’ours collectés dans le cadre de ce suivi transfrontalier permetten...

The recovery of large carnivores in Europe raises issues related to sharing landscape with humans. Beyond technical solutions, it is widely recognized that social factors also contribute to shaping coexistence. In this context, scholars increasingly stress the need to adopt place‐based approaches by analysing how humans and wildlife interact and co...

Large frugivorous species shape vegetation dynamics by assisting seed dispersal and affecting the seedling establishment through endozoochory. Their seed dispersal effectiveness depends on a quantitative (number of seeds dispersed) and a qualitative (probability that a dispersed seed will germinate, survive and grow to an adult plant) component, wh...

Range expansion is a common feature from invasive to reintroduced or recovering populations. This process is mainly driven by population growth and dispersal and, consequently, different species’ intrinsic characteristics and dispersal mechanisms will result in contrasting population structures in space. How individuals of different sex and age cla...

La population d’ours bruns présente dans les Pyrénées fait l’objet d’un suivi annuel transfrontalier impliquant les services andorrans, espagnols et français. En France, l’OFB, par le biais du Réseau Ours Brun (ROB), est chargé de cette tâche. Le suivi fait appel à des techniques de recherche des indices de présence des ours collectés de façon oppo...

Spatial Capture-Recapture (SCR) models, parametrized with least cost path distance, provide a unifying framework for explicit estimating landscape connectivity and population size from individual detection data. However, we frequently encounter individuals with larger apparent space use than the rest of the population. To avoid biased population si...

1. To document and halt biodiversity loss, monitoring, quantifying trends and assessing management and conservation strategies on wildlife populations and communities are crucial steps. 2. With increasing technological innovations, more and more data are collected and new quantitative methods are constantly developed. These rapid developments come...

La population d’ours bruns présente dans les Pyrénées fait l’objet d’un suivi annuel transfrontalier impliquant les services andorrans, espagnols et français. En France, l’OFB, par le biais du Réseau Ours Brun (ROB), est chargé de cette tâche. Le suivi fait appel à des techniques de recherche des indices de présence des ours collectés de façon oppo...

Biotic interactions are expected to influence species' responses to climate change, but they are usually not included when predicting future range shifts. We assessed the importance of biotic interactions to understand future consequences of climate and land use change for biodiversity using as a model system the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Europe...

Connectivity, in the sense of the persistence of movements between habitat patches, is key to maintain endangered populations and has to be evaluated in management plans. In practice, connectivity is difficult to quantify especially for rare and elusive species. Here, we use spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models with an ecological detection distan...

Connectivity, in the sense of the persistence of movements between habitat patches, is key to maintain endangered populations and has to be evaluated in management plans. In practice, connectivity is difficult to quantify especially for rare and elusive species. Here, we use spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models with an ecological detection distan...

Estimating the size of small populations of large mammals can be achieved via censuses, or complete counts, of recognizable individuals detected over a time period: minimum detected (population) size (MDS). However, as a population grows larger and its spatial distribution expands, the risk of underestimating population size using MDS rapidly incre...

Connectivity is a key driver of the recovery and expansion of endangered populations and has to be evaluated in management plans. In practice, connectivity is difficult to quantify especially for rare and elusive species. Here, we use spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models with an ecological detection distance to identify barriers to movement. We f...

A la demande du Ministère de la Transition Ecologique, l’Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB), par le biais du Réseau Ours Brun (ROB) et en collaboration avec ses homologues aragonais, catalans, navarrais et andorrans, est chargé d’assurer le suivi annuel de la population d’ours brun présente sur la chaîne pyrénéenne. Le travail de collecte des...

Abundance of small populations of large mammals may be assessed using complete counts of the different individuals detected over a time period, so-called minimum detected size (MDS). However, as population is growing larger and its distribution is expanding wider, the risk of under-estimating population size using MDS is increasing sharply due to t...

Sharing space with large carnivores on a human-dominated continent like Europe results in multiple conflictful interactions with human interests, of which depredation on livestock is the most widespread. We conducted an analysis of the impact by all four European large carnivores on sheep farming in 10 European countries, during the period 2010-201...

The Pyrenean brown bear population is annually monitored by cross-border wildlife services involving Andorran, Spanish and French teams. In France, the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB), through the Brown Bear Network (BBN), is in charge of this task. The monitoring relies on non-invasive field collection of brown bear presence signs conducted using...

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In the Pyrenees, brown bear population abundance is estimated from non-invasive genetic analyses of scat and hair samples. Although such analyses are highly beneficial for population monitoring and research, it can be especially difficult for humans to locate bear scats in the field. To address this, we have incorporated a dog (trained from an earl...

Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including t...

The publisher regret that the presentation of Figure 3 in the original version of the above article was incorrectly presented. The data in the image were inadvertently omitted during publication process.

Mammals usually adjust behavioral patterns when exposed to disturbances. Elusiveness and low-risk time selection may reduce their stress in periods of highest risk. In Europe, brown bears (Ursus arctos) coexist with humans in densely populated and modified landscapes and, consequently, are exposed to human-caused disturbances during the daytime hou...

La population d’ours bruns présente dans les Pyrénées fait l’objet d’un suivi annuel transfrontalier impliquant les services andorrans, espagnols et français. En France, l’OFB, par le biais du Réseau Ours Brun (ROB), est chargé de cette tâche. Le suivi fait appel à des techniques de recherche des indices de présence des ours collectés de façon oppo...

One of the main factors limiting the acceptance of large carnivores is livestock depredation. Reducing damages on livestock requires understanding how depredation varies in space and time. The conservation of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in the Pyrenees offers a relevant study case to illustrate this issue, with a minimum population siz...

Talk presented at the 29th International Congress for Conservation Biology ICCB : https://conbio.org/mini-sites/iccb-2019/ ) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on the 24th of July 2019. Summary : The political fragmentation and the high species mobility imply that most European large carnivore populations are transboundary, which makes conservation effort...

The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Her...

The Pyrenean brown bear population is annually monitored by cross-border services involving Andorran, Spanish and French teams. In France, the National Hunting and Wildlife Agency (ONCFS) through the Brown Bear Network (BBN), is in charge of this task. The population monitoring rests on the search of bear presence signs collected both opportunistic...

The Pyrenean brown bear population is annually monitored by cross-border services involving Andorran, Spanish and French teams. In France, the National Hunting and Wildlife Agency (ONCFS) through the Brown Bear Network (ROB) is in charge of this task across the French Pyrenees. The monitoring of the population rests essentially on the search of bea...

The Pyrenean brown bear Ursus arctos population in the mountains between France and Spain is one of the smallest and most threatened populations of large carnivores in Europe. We assessed trends in brown bear habitat use in the Pyrenees and investigated the underlying environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Using detection/non-detection data colle...

Poussé par quelques étudiants préférant observer le bouquetin ibérique et l’isard en nature plutôt que le grillon en laboratoire, Raymond Campan commence une incursion dans le domaine de l’éco-éthologie des grands herbivores à la fin des années 70. En 1986, il devient directeur de l’Institut de Recherche sur les Grands Mammifères (IRGM), une unité...

The Pyrenean brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the mountainous border between France and Spain is one of the smallest and most endangered populations of large carnivores in Europe. Here, we aimed at assessing trends in brown bear habitat use in the Pyrenees and determining the underlying environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Using detection/non-detec...

Plant dispersal is crucial to maintaining plant community dynamics, especially in the current context of rapid environmental changes such as global warming and landscape fragmentation. We seized the opportunity to carry out a pilot study on endozoochorous dispersal by the endangered Pyrenean brown bear. We based our study on faeces collected by the...

Human administrative borders have no effect on wild animals, and the vast home ranges of large carnivores often cause them to live simultaneously on the territory of two or more countries or jurisdictions with different management policies. Here, we investigate the importance of transboundary population monitoring using as a case study the Pyrenean...

Microsatellite markers have played a major role in ecological, evolutionary and conservation research during the past 20 years. However, technical constrains related to the use of capillary electrophoresis and a recent technological revolution that has impacted other marker types have brought to question the continued use of microsatellites for cer...

1. Wildlife damage to human property threatens human–wildlife coexistence. Conflicts arising from wildlife damage in intensively managed landscapes often undermine conservation efforts, making damage mitigation and compensation of special concern for wildlife conservation. However, the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of damage and claims at la...

Shape files of current and historical distribution maps of large carnivore species in Europe. Also available from http://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.986mp

The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one larg...

Collect information about bear-human encounters is a prerequisite to communicate with the public about attitude to adopt when meeting a bear and to stimulate their acceptance. 523 events of brown bear visual observations and encounters were recorded between 1996-2013 in Pyrenees mountains, France. They were analysed in respect to time of day, seaso...

Nous avons eu l’opportunité de mener une étude pilote sur la dispersion endozoochore par l’ours brun (Ursus arctos) des Pyrénées, à partir des relevés d’indices de présence effectués par l’Équipe Ours et le Réseau Ours Brun et des données de localisation par GPS de 3 individus slovènes relâchés en 2006. Nous avons examiné 39 échantillons répartis s...

Movement is fundamental to individual and population dynamics, as it allows individuals to meet their basic requirements. Although movement patterns reflect interactions between internal and external factors, only few studies have examined the effects of these factors on movement simultaneously, and they generally focused on particular biological c...

1. Identification of suitable habitats for small, endangered populations is important to preserve key areas for potential augmentation. However, replicated spatial data from a sufficient number of individuals are often unavailable for such populations, leading to unreliable habitat models. This is the case for the endangered Pyrenean brown bear Urs...

The usual paradigm for translocations is that they should not take place in declining populations until the causes(s) of the decline has been reversed. This approach sounds intuitive, but may not apply in cases where population decline is caused by behavioral or demographic mechanisms that could only be reversed by translocation itself. We analyzed...

The aim of this study is to empirically illustrate the importance of taking movement constraints into account when testing for habitat selection with telemetry data. Global Positioning System relocations of two Scandinavian brown bears were used to compare the results of two different tests of habitat selection by the bears within their home range....

Counts of females with cubs-of-the-year (FWC) have been used as an index for monitoring brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations or estimating a minimum number of adult females in several small and medium-sized populations. Because discriminating among family groups is crucial to this procedure, we sought to improve criteria used to differentiate amon...

Counts of females with cubs of the year (hereafter, FWC) have been used as an index for monitoring brown bear populations and/or estimating a minimum number of adult females in several small and medium-sized populations. The goal of this paper is to improve the criteria to differentiate FWC using distance in space and time between sightings, since...

A small group (2 females and one male) of Slovenian brown bears was reintroduced in the French Pyrenees in the years 1996-1997 on a LIFE programme of the European Union. The present study on these animals' diet in the wild is part of their biological and ecological survey. A total of 89 fæces were collected from 1996 to 1999. The macro- and microsc...

The Pyrenean brown bear (Ursus arctos) population is considered as one of the most seriously threatened with extinction in Western Europe. To assess its viability and possible needs of augmentation, we develop deterministic and stochastic stage-structured demographic models. The deterministic model reveals that a bear population cannot have a high...

Results of a brown bear translocation from Slovenia in the Central Pyrennes Inside of a project Life from UE, in 1996 and 1997, three brown bears (2 females -Ziva and Mellba- and 1 male-Pyros-) from Eslovenia were released in Central Pyrennes. The home range size and the movements of bears were very different according to bears and years. The first...

We recorded the responses of the members of a captive group of wedge-capped capuchins to novel and familiar objects placed in different parts of their cage in a study of the spatial dependency of activity with objects. We focused on behavioral pattern variability across subjects and across object location. Results show that, according to the locati...

Within the framework of a European program of brown bear (Ursus arctos) restoration, 2 adult female brown bears were captured in May and June of 1996 in Medved Reserve, Slovenia, and translocated to the central Pyrenees, France. The 2 females (Ziva and Mellba) were fitted with radiotransmitters and monitored from release to den entrance. After rele...

We investigated the behavioural mechanisms involved in group formation at a feeding site in a captive snowshoe hare population. The analysis showed that grouping resulted most often from a feeding attraction which led individuals to use the feeding site independently of each other. However social attraction and especially social repulsion among har...

Contrary to what often seems to be accepted, 100% Tit-for-Tat is not an ESS, even in the three-pure-strategy game Tit-for-Tat-Always Cooperate-Always Defect, for which 100% Always Defect finally remains the only attractor for the composition of “asexual” populations. The present paper firstly investigates the dynamics of the Tit-for-Tat-Always Coop...

In Ovis ammon musimon modification of spatial behaviour appeared to be based on the process of progressive segregation of the sexes outside the rutting period. Spatial distribution by adult males seems to be more structured, but certain males of at least 4 yr of age were sedentary throughout the annual cycle which suggests that the social segregati...

In evolutionary biology, the axiom that natural selection tends ideally to maximize inclusive fitness of the individual or some other suitable quantity is often advanced (Cody, 1974; Maynard Smith, 1978; Krebs & McCleery, 1984; Houston et al., 1988). Moreover, the evolutionists generally distinguish two situations (Dawkins, 1980; Maynard Smith, 198...

Vigilance behaviour of captive wild boars at feeding points was investigated using films. Results show that individual vigilance decreased with increasing group size, especially between solitary individuals and groups of 2. Moreover, the collective vigilance was, whatever the group size, below the individual vigilance in solitary animals. The study...

It has been argued that animals alternating between feeding and vigilance behavior should scan randomly. However, the spectral analysis of individual sequences of scans and interscan intervals obtained from wild boars (Sus scrofa) shows the existence of significant periodicities; the scans and interscan intervals oscillate regularly among long and...

The reasoning and conclusions of the evolutionary theory of games are based on the hypothesis that each strategist reproduces its own kind. Using digenic variants of the Hawk-Dove-Bourgeois game, we illustrate the fact that the transposition of this type of approach to sexual diploid populations, for which the evolutionary theory of games also init...

The aims of this paper are to recall and to illustrate one of the validity range boundaries of behavioural ecology and the evolutionary theory of games, within the field of neo-darwinian theory. The principles underlying these two disciplines can apply at the minimum condition that the pure or mixed strategy, which must remain at selective equilibr...

The main functions attributed to vigilance are: detection of predators, observation of group members, location of food and avoidance of kleptoparasitism. Individual vigilance generally decreases and collective vigilance increases with increasing group size; peripheral individuals are more vigilant than central ones; and males scan more than females...

Yellow-legged herring gull nests were studied on the islands of Frioul, offshore of Marseille, S France. Wind does not appear to exert any influence. Orientation of screens seems correlated with the direction and distance of the nearest neighbour, especially for close neighbours (<6m). -from English summary